5.  The applicant was born in 1929 and lives in Bucharest.
6.  On 26 September 1991, the local commission in Pătrăuţi for the application of Law no. 18/1991 (“the local commission”) issued a certificate to the applicant recognising his ownership of a plot of land measuring 1,500 square metres.
7.  In 1993, the Suceava county commission for the application of Law no. 18/1991 (“the county commission”) issued ownership titles to the applicant's neighbours for several plots of land which had become State property in 1944.
8.  In 1993 the applicant brought an action in the Suceava District Court seeking the restitution of the aforementioned land, which he had inherited before the collectivisation. On 9 June 1993 the District Court ordered the restitution of part of the claimed land, measuring 3,087 square metres, on the site known by the name “Acasă”. Both litigants appealed against this decision. On 25 February 1994 the Bucharest County Court quashed the decision and remitted the case to the Suceava District Court. On 13 March 1995 the District Court ordered the same partial restitution to the applicant. No appeal was lodged and the decision became final.
9.  On 9 November 1993 the applicant had filed an action with the Bucharest County Court seeking to compel the local commission to enforce the judgment of 9 June 1993 and the certificate of 26 September 1991. He also claimed compensation for the profits derived from the cultivation of the land by third parties.
10.  On 25 January 1996 the County Court required the local commission to restore to the applicant the two plots of land (3,087 square metres and 1,500 square metres) as ordered in the final judgment of 13 March 1995 and the certificate of 26 September 1991. In the same decision, the County Court dismissed the applicant's claim for cultivation profits as the evidence produced was insufficient to make an evaluation. No appeal was lodged and the decision became final.
11.  On 29 May 1998, in response to complaints by the applicant about the non-enforcement of the above judgment, the prefect of the county informed the applicant that, as long as there was a valid ownership title in respect of the land in question (issued to the applicant's neighbours) which had not been declared null and void, the judgment could not be enforced. The prefect suggested that the applicant lodge with the competent court an action for that purpose.
12.  On 16 March 1999, the applicant brought an action seeking a declaration that the ownership title issued on 24 May 1993 in favour of H.M., one of the neighbours, was null and void.
13.  In a judgment of 28 June 1999 given by the Suceava District Court, upheld by the final decision of 24 April 2001 of the Suceava Court of Appeal, the action was rejected on the ground that the applicant had not proven his ownership rights over the plot of land in question.
14.  In 2000 the applicant brought an action in the Suceava District Court to compel the local commission to enforce the judgment of 13 March 1995. On 15 May 2001 the District Court dismissed the action because of the res judicata effect of the County Court's decision of 25 January 1996.
15.  It appears from the parties' submissions that the judgments of 13 March 1995 and 25 January 1996 have to date not been enforced.